Voter turnout in Lakewood for this year’s gubernatorial election reached unprecedented levels, with 39,024 ballots cast so far, representing a turnout rate of 60.2% of the 64,803 registered voters in town.
Initial, unofficial results, show a commanding win for Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli, who secured 34,930 votes, compared with 3,777 for Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill. The remainder of ballots went to third-party candidates or were left blank in the governor’s race.
What makes the figures especially noteworthy: in the 2024 presidential race, Lakewood saw 42,077 ballots cast, representing about 67 percent turnout, a rate typically reserved for presidential contests. Compared to that benchmark, the township’s gubernatorial-year turnout was remarkably strong and well above the state average.
To further compare, for the previous gubernatorial election in 2021, turnout in Lakewood was just 36% of registered voters. That means this year’s 60% turnout more than doubled the level seen in the prior governor’s race, a truly remarkable feat.
Ciattarelli’s performance in Lakewood was not only dominant, but historic in its own right. His approximate 90 percent share of Lakewood’s vote surpassed even Donald Trump’s 87 percent showing in the township during the 2024 presidential election, underscoring Lakewood’s growing bloc strength in New Jersey.
It’s important to note, however, that the final turnout figure may still edge upward: in New Jersey, valid mail-in ballots and provisional ballots continue to be counted after Election Day. Once these are fully tabulated and certified by the county board of elections, the official turnout rate for Lakewood will rise modestly, and the final vote tally may slightly alter candidate percentages.
Although the candidate preferred by most Lakewood voters was defeated, Lakewood’s performance this year will be viewed as a benchmark: demonstrating that the community can mobilize for a high turnout when necessary.
Help me understand, is there an award that goes to the one ‘possessing the ability to mobilize for a high turnout’?
What does that accomplish and what meaningful difference does it make if 20k, 30k or 42k mobilized?
The politicians take notice and then deal with us better.
So when you mobilize 40k for the losing candidate, based on your logic, you’re essentially hurting herself?
And if Mikie would act like Trump ,(which she won’t) , she would ignore Lakewood completely for the next 4 years.
I don’t know what you mean with the word “herself”. But what I am saying is that even if you voted against a candidate they take notice that you care about voting and will try to please you so they will get your votes when they run for reelection.
No, you aren’t.
you are hurting yourself when you DONT vote.
I think that the folks in Lkwd didn’t understand the math. In all honesty at this point people should realized that a 60% turnout didn’t really impact the outcomes.
Why wasn’t the total closer to say 95%?
No idea.
Are you saying therefore they shouldn’t vote?
Nope, I’m saying they have to mathematically figure out what the critical mass/gross number of frum voters are and work towards that goal. 60% wasn’t sufficient to tip the scales. Perhaps there aren’t sufficient frum voters to tip the scales.
The last sentence is the most self-aware comment I’ve ever seen on this website. Yasher koach.
Huge difference.
The greater the mandate, the greater the voice.
The huge turnout only helped Avi Schnall. If not for the huge turnout Avi would have lost to Ned Thompson- the one that Avi took down two years ago. Avi says so himself. As far as the Governor’s race, it was just comfortable for Jack to know that he’s so liked and admired in this town but ultimately it did nothing for him. And the Governor-elect didn’t need Lakewood because she won by a huge margin.. she could choose to stiff Lakewood when she becomes governor if she felt like it..
The greater the mandate, the greater the voice.
It would be great if next time around someone could organize assistance for voters that are overseas. Between the seminary girls, yeshiva bochurim, kollel families, and those with dual citizenship, there are a LOT of untapped votes.
Agreed.
In this case, it still would not be enough
The agudah did organize it in New york. But there are not 400 thousand such votes.
It was available in NJ as well.
People can register online to vote for mail-in-ballot. My Bochurim do that.
There were hundreds of emails and artiles on how to vote from overseas. Too many Frum regularly sit back and ignore elections. In Brooklyn I saw numerous Frum people in their 50’s and older, who had never voted before, nor had any idea how to fill out their ballot. When there’s any election people need to stop being selfish and saying things like my vote doesn’t mater. A larger turn out creates interest for the nexr cycle.
Let’s all dance in the streets to celebrate this great victory.
No, It’s not good, because it shows that even when we fought with all that we’ve got, we still can not make a difference.
It’s a big world out there.
When your turn out is 60%, and yoursatisfied, that’s a failure. If your son came him with a 60 on his Gemara Bechina, you wouldn’t call it a great fight.
GOTV (Get Out the Vote) campaigns in the frum community have to walk a fine line. You want to motivate people to register to vote and then send in their ballot/ show up to their polling place. So you tell them that the preferred candidate is the best, the opponent is the worst, etc. And that if enough frum people vote as they’re told, preferred candidate will win. If frum voters, who often tend to be somewhat cynical, don’t believe that all of those things are true, GOTV campaigns won’t motivate them to vote in large numbers.
The truth is that the frum vote in NJ isn’t enough to affect statewide elections much, unless general turnout is very low. Yes, even if you include counties outside of Ocean, like Passaic, Bergen, Monmouth, and Essex. That’s why Josh Gottheimer came in 4th in the Democratic primary despite an extensive campaign encouraging Republicans to switch their party affiliation to vote for him. And that’s why despite the great turnout in Lakewood and other frum communities, Mikie beat Jack by 13 points, more than 420K votes.
Of course people should still vote in local and statewide elections. Voting records are public, and politicians take constituents who vote more seriously than those who don’t. (Voting records will show whether you turned in a ballot for a particular election, but won’t show who you voted for or whether you left any selections blank).
That’s true on an individual, neighborhood, and community level. So if you believe that voting as directed by the Vaad or similar organization is important, you should continue to do so, even if past recommended candidates didn’t win. But even if you don’t, you should still vote.
The Frum vote, outside of their own personal elections, have had almost no say in Government elections. We make up less then 1% of the world population. You can’t expect gentile politicians to make 1% the majority.